French 470: Culture en direct
Note: The work and activities for Fr 470 are closely integrated with those of FR 471 (Communication en direct), also taught in France. The calendar that accompanies the syllabus covers class sessions and activities for both classes.

Course objectives: This class offers numerous activities conceived to improve your knowledge about and deepen your comprehension of French culture through an in-depth exploration of a large city (Paris), a small town (Les Sables d’Olonne), and a region (La Vendée). Building on the level of general knowledge already acquired, students will explore several elements of French identity through direct contacts with the society. The WVU-V program will allow you the opportunity to pursue this exploration at several levels, ranging from the national (or even transnational) level down to the level of the individual. This exploration will also include an equally strong diachronic element, ranging from the pre-historic past to the most recent elements of contemporary life.  Overall students will work in an intesive immersion environment toward mastery of the "Five C's" identified in the national standards of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Langauges:

Communication

Communicate in Languages Other Than English

Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions

Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics

Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

Cultures

Gain Knowledge and Understanding of Other Cultures

Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied

Standard 2.2: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied

Connections

Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information

Standard 3.1: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language

Standard 3.2: Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures

Comparisons

Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture

Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own

Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.

Communities

Participate in Multilingual Communities at Home & Around the World

Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting

Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

Learning outcomes:   Successful students in this course will be able to

• listen to, analyze, discuss and write about the variety of elements in French culture to which the direct experiences of WVU-V will expose them
• demonstrate these outcomes through active engagement in classroom and field participation, including preparatory participation and follow-up quizzes and discussions.
• conceive, maintain, and organize a cultural and linguistic journal that shows comprehension and thoughtful analysis with the materials encountered,
• work in a team  to demonstrate cultural and linguistic engagement through the production of a series of video podcasts and supporting documents that illustrate the growing mastery of the Five C's
• share the discoveries of this program through the vodcasts, documents, and eCampus exchanges with students enrolled in the Virtual Vendée program back in the US
• demonstrate the mastery of modern digital media, including digital photography, video, sound, and means of communicating through http, ftp, xml, and rss feeds.

Participation: Participation in group activities and realization team podcasts are essential to the successful completion of the course. 
        During visits and excursions, all students will attentively follow guides’ presentations and will make note of elements essential to the comprehension of the cultural element being explored (the traditional WVU-V "quinconce" will be one medium for this, the field notebook or podcast, another). These points will serve as the basis for classroom discussions that will follow and will also provide subject matter for journals and individual projects. Students will be expected to ask questions of the presenters and to participate actively in all proposed activities. The frequency and pertinence of contributions during the visits and the class sessions as well as performance on quizzes based on the visits will be the principal criteria for the evaluation of participation.  Attention to content will be measured by frequent in-class quizzes and by mini-assignments in the field.  NOTE: All communication during class and excursions (including meals) is to be done in the target language.  Cultural notes and journal entries must also reflect this integration of language and cultural objectives.  Participation will be evaluated on the basis of: accuracy of responses to quizzes based on course content, engagement in classroom and field activities, analytical or interpretive pertinence of questions/notes/discussions.

Journal: An individual cultural journal will be required, and its contents may be recorded in conjunction with those required for FR 471. The cultural journal will include one or more entries focused on French culture for every day of the program (week-ends are optional). It will also include a general conclusion written during the last days of the program. Entries will consist of general and/or specific observations regarding the direct experiences in the community, in the home, or from our field work and excursion as well as reflexions on their significance in the cultural context. 
      The observations should demonstrate an advanced level of cultural comprehension and analysis in a specific context of actual experience. Among possible contexts we would suggest the following: national identity, local or regional identity, national or regional news, daily life, etc. As much as possible, the analyses should take a synthetic approach, showing the relationship between these various cultural elements. This synthetic character will be an essential element of the general concluding comments that will close the journal.  A significant portion of each regular three-hour class session will be devoted to discussion and analysis of the cultural experiences provided by WVU-V.  Students will be expected to maintain the journal outside of class and on a daily basis (it is not to be done once a week or cram-composed at the end of the program).  The journal will be evaluated according to the following criteria: completeness, cultural content, precision, depth of synthesis/analysis, and pertinence.

Field and Community Podcasts: Each student will be assigned to a development team that will work together on a weekly podcast project based on excursions in the field and life in the community of Les Sables d'Olonne.  Each team will have primary responsibility for one podcast per and that podcast is to be designed for use in the distance learning course.  Each team will produce FIVE podcasts over the course of the program, based either on field trips and excursions, or on life on the community of Les Sables d'Olonne. The podcast, in the form of a QuickTime Movie file integrating text, still photography, audio, and video, will generally included the following elements:

2) Exposition: the primary content of the podcast -- credits, images, videos, sound interviews, appropriate subtitles, etc.

 
      The projects will be evaluated on the basis of their relevance and accuracy in terms of the Five C's, the quality of synthesis/analysis, as well as development, organization, the level of interactivity with "Virtual Vendée" as well as the overall quality of the final product. Team assignments will rotate, with each student taking the responsabilies of photographer, interviewer, and producer for at least one podcast.  Individidial students will be evaluated both on the quality of the podcast.